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The choice is clear for NFA: Cease fire or cease playing
Friday Sept 11, 1987
Greg Johns; Valley Daily News
What should have been a joyous evening marked by celebration turned into an ugly night marred by frustration last Saturday at Troy Field.
The Auburn Panthers' semi pro football franchise was on its way toward an unprecedented and unbelievable 50th consecutive victory. No minor league football team in the nation has approached what the Panthers have done since their formation four years ago.
But all that was nearly undone in a flash of fists and a war of words during Saturday's abbreviated 42-7 victory over the Eastside Express.
While the game went down in the books as another Auburn win, in truth it almost went down as a complete loss for the entire league. The Panthers and the Northwest Football Alliance came within an eyelash of having their season ended Wednesday by a vote of the referee's association which services the league.
Officials, under physical duress from several Eastside players Saturday, halted the game with 9:13 remaining in the fourth quarter. In the ensuing confusion, one Auburn administrator was punched in the face trying to protect the officials and several Auburn players became embroiled in fights trying to come to his aid.
Pushing and shoving continued for several more minutes between players of both teams in the crowded walkway leading to both team's adjacent locker rooms beneath the stadium until a policeman in attendance came to the scene.
Twenty minutes later, in a darkened stadium, coaches and administrators from both teams were still arguing over exactly what transpired.
While the sequence of events might be a matter of debate, the overall feeling was clear. The mood in Troy Field was one of ugliness. Eastside fans screamed at anyone in a Panther shirt about how terrible the referees were for stopping the game.
"We paid our money, we deserve to see the game played," was the common theme.
Game officials had another outlook. They were getting paid, but not enough to withstand the physical abuse. Wednesday evening, members of the Pacific Northwest Football Officiating Association gathered at a board meeting and voted on whether or not to continue doing NFA games.
Their decision is to continue, but with no more warnings. The next outbreak in the NFA will be the last.
"This isn't the first time this kind of thing has occurred," said Cap Anderson, president of the King County officials association. "It's up to them now if they want to continue playing football…This is basically their final notice."
Anderson said his officials group is concerned for its safety.
"There are situations in all games," he said. "But what got very concerning is the safety of our officials at the game. We had some very veteran officials sensing their safety was in jeapordy. I've worked many football games and been in situations where tempers flared, but I've never been in a situation where a guy came totally unglued and there was concern someone would be harmed."
Auburn Panther general manager Michael Highsmith, who also serves as the league's commissioner, says the problem seems to be increasing in relation to the Panther win streak.
"It seems like every game is at a fever pitch now. Guys want so badly to beat Auburn," he said. "If things don't go their way, they get out of hand."
Highsmith said the problem isn't strictly related to the Panthers, although it seems to swirl strongest in their vicinity.
"Aggression is overcoming a lot of people in this league," he said. "There are some people who've been in the league as long as the Panthers or longer who have seen the (former) Pierce County Bengals and now the Panthers dominate. And they're just tired of it. They seem to feel the need to express themselves in ways that aren't acceptable."
Highsmith, speaking Tuesday before the officials' group said it would continue, admitted he was unsure of the league's future or his role in it. Though he declined to comment on his personal outlook toward the NFA, he made it clear that once athletics aren't fun, there's not much reason to be involved.
"This is not a specific statement toward the NFA or this incident," he said. "But in any kind of sport if things degenerate to where participants don't respect officials or opponents or any of the rules of decency, it doesn't bode well for whatever sport it is."
"If that is what’s happening (in the NFA), then something very drastic will have to happen. On the plus side, maybe it's just three or four bad apples," Highsmith said. "If we can deal with them, maybe we'll be OK."
Both Highsmith and Anderson said if the PNFOA ever chooses to stop working NFA games, the league’s alternatives will be slim. There are referee’s associations in neighboring counties, but the Pierce County association has already declined to do any more NFA games and other groups would likely balk at moving into another association’s turf.
"I would put it this way," Anderson said. "I would think (other associations) would have a very difficult time coming in to our service area and working a game knowing why we'd pulled out."
But Anderson – whose group also officiates all the high school and youth leagues in King County – doesn't want to sound the death knell of the NFA.
"We have to do what we have to do," he said. "We've told them our position. I believe the NFA will take the necessary steps and we can both go on our merry way."
If the league can indeed clear up its troubles and play a classy brand of football, then there truly will be a call for celebration. Until then, however, the Panthers' win streak will only be as solid as the tenuous string which is keeping officials working the games.
On Oct 22, 1987 led by Skagit Valley Raider owner Dick Stratthof, the owners voted to disband the NFA. Stratthof also announced he would no longer be involved in owning the Raiders stating he had many differences with league owners, the exception being Panther owner Michael Highsmith. "He's a personal and good friend," Stratthof said. "If we beat him fine. If we lose, fine. We'll still go out and have a beer afterwards." (Skagit Valley Herald, Oct 1987).
Auburn Panther coach Ron Baines would take up the reigns and help begin rebuilding the Pierce County Bengals and incorporate a new league in 1988. The Northwest Football League (NWFL) is born with Baines elected commissioner.
Michael Highsmith would step away to work towards raising $2.5 million to try and bring an Arena football franchise to Tacoma and later Portland. The Panthers were disbanded following a loss to the San Jose Wilcats bringing an end to a 57-game winning streak.
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Central Oregonian
Full-circle footballDate Published to Web: 3/24/2006 When Bill Hoffman was in the eighth grade, he was chosen to play in a boys league all-star game for his town in Palm Springs, Calif.
The all-star team took on the champion of the boys league, which just happened to be coached by Bill's older brother, Jerry, in the final game of the season, culminating a year in which the two brothers would banter back and forth at home as to which team was better (Jerry's team always won).
And in one of the final plays of the game, Bill - wildly undersized and in his mind, chosen because he gave it his all on every play - was put in at defensive back on Jerry's side of the field.
As the quarterback threw the ball to the running back in the flat, Bill intercepted the pass and had nothing but daylight in front of him. But, as it seems every doubter would tell him for the rest of his life when it came to football, Bill was a little short. Five yards to be exact.
Hoffman's daughter, Katie, calls it "the scary room." Known to Bill as simply "the football room," it is a shrine dedicated to the game he loves. Football pictures adorn the ceiling, reminiscent to the Sistine Chapel, while football cards line the walls, leaving no white space. Starting Lineup figurines (still in their original packaging) act as a border around the wall while jerseys, helmets, pants, football chairs and lamps, magazines, posters, videos, a picture of Roman Gabriel (his childhood idol), Wheaties boxes, shoulder pads, banners, team glasses, newspapers clippings, a Gatorade cooler, footballs (of course), and a team picture of the Central Oregon Stampede fill the room to capacity.
"When three kids moved out of this room, I was like, 'My turn! Time to relive my childhood,'" Hoffman said.
Hoffman attended his first football game when he was a child to see his older brother Tom play trombone in the marching band. According to Bill's mother, he was zoned in on the game for three hours, not looking at his older brother once.
After that, it became a lifelong dream to play football.
"We played until my mom would be begging for me to come home," Hoffman said about his childhood. "Just the feeling of hitting, of contact, it was contagious. I was hooked."
Playing until he was yelled at would lead to three years playing high school football as a backup offensive guard, a backup offensive middle linebacker, and a backup to the special teams.
"I didn't start," Hoffman said. "I was always the little guy who would do anything." That attitude allowed him to continue playing into college at the College of the Desert in Palm Desert, Calif. And little did he know that his childhood idol, Roman Gabriel, would be the offensive coordinator at the school.
"It was unreal," Hoffman said. "I'm working out for my idol as a kid. It was so ironic.
"He was a good-natured guy, good leader, fiery player, and he was that guy that I looked up to as a kid."
Hoffman was a defensive back at the junior college, and would later transfer to San Diego State University. He said he walked into the weight room and saw the massive linemen working out and lifting weights. They were not the linemen, however, they were the defensive backs.
In the opening tryout, Hoffman was ignored to the point that his friend, a sports reporter for The Daily Aztec, said that if he made the first cut, he'd write a story about Bill so the coaches would not give him the cold-shoulder.
Unfortunately, Bill pulled his hamstring in the 40-yard dash, got cut, and would not play contact football for another 24 years.
"I heard about the Central Oregon Stampede, and it was like, 'bam, they play tackle football,'" Hoffman said. "That feeling came back and I wondered if I could play again."
At the age of 45, at 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing in at 155 pounds, Hoffman registered to play for the Stampede online. He entered an online forum, and asked a simple question that anyone in his situation would ask. "Are there any other 45-year-olds playing on the team?"
His response that he received was rather cold. He was told that he had three strikes against him: he was 5 feet 5 inches tall and 155 pounds, he was 45-years-old, and he hadn't played football in 24 years. "Why don't you put your equipment on eBay and live your dream through your grandchildren," the response said.
For Hoffman, this was just another doubter and more motivation.
At tryouts at Sisters High School, he was the laughing stock. And on the first run, he pulled his hamstring that he pulled 24 years ago.
The head coach had a meeting with the players, and said that if he taps you on the helmet, that you should take your equipment and leave. Hoffman felt he was talking about him, so he iced his hamstring and was first in line on every drill.
He didn't get tapped.
Hoffman made the team, and in his first game against Roseburg, he came into the game at nose tackle with 34 seconds left. On the last play, he was cut blocked by a Roseburg player. He tore his PCL, ACL, LCL, both meniscus, and broken bone fragments. It was, obviously, a major knee injury.
"I just can't play two plays and get hurt," Hoffman said. "I can't let it end like that."
Hoffman returned the next season, fully healed. In a game in which the Stampede were leading 53-7, Hoffman came in at running back.
Hoffman didn't know what to do, but lineman Mark Prickett just said, "follow me." From five yards out, the Stampede linemen plowed a hole that Hoffman said his grandmother could have got through. But he scored, he got his first touchdown of his entire career, and he made up those five yards that he lost when he was playing in the boys league in the eighth grade.
"Sometimes, that dream comes later in life, and it was like a flashback, a vision," Hoffman said. "All those doubts and all that self-doubt, at that moment, everything was OK. It was that one cleansing moment, everything was perfect."
The Central Oregon Stampede open their season on Saturday night at 6 p.m. at Redmond High School. The team will host the Umpqua Valley Knights. Hoffman will start this year on the kickoff team. To make up for lost playing time as a kid, Hoffman plans on playing football for another 13 years. |
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